Jenkins, Rawlings take a step on tax-rate compromise

It's not the most common thing for politicans to turn down spending cash, but we'll be interested to see how far Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings get with their respective elective bodies by signalling their openness to a compromise on tax rates. With property valuations spiking by more than 10 percent -- hitting the middle class hard, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis -- it's nice to see these two leaders at least raise the possibility of giving a little of the tax-collection windfall back to taxpayers. The city and county premised their budgets on a 7.5 percent valuation increase, so there's an opening if enough council members and/or commissioners agree.

Supporters of undocumented immigrants chant during a rally at City Hall in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016, as Democrats gather to formally annoint Hillary Clinton as their candidate for the November presidential election at the Democratic National Convention. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMMNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

AFP/Getty Images

State right to ease access for immigrant parents to birth certificates for their U.S.-born kids

State officials did a sensible thing this week when they settled a federal lawsuit that cleared a frustrating roadblock that had denied thousands of unauthorized immigrants access to birth certificates for their U.S.-born children. Public interest law firms pushed the Texas Department of State Health and Services to now accept Mexican voter ID cards as proof the parents are who they say they are. The state's declaration last year that it would no longer accept Mexican consular ID cards, matriculas, created unnecessary trouble for these parents - many of them in Dallas ISD - to enroll their kids in school.

From left to right, Brooke Brei, Austin Brei, Ben Davidson, and Sarah White, play Pokemon Go and socialize at the Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square. The group said they have captured many Pokemon on the square such as Tauros, Pikachu, Zubat and Rattata, Friday, July 22, 2016, in Denton, Texas. Jeff Woo/DRC

DRC

Lights, camera, action

It isn't Gone with the Wind, but the Irving Police Department's innovative public service video warning to Pokemon Go players is worthy of some cinematic love. The online safety video featuring Officer Kevin Hubbard of the department's Crime Prevention Unit and Tara Taylor and Chelsey Jones, both civilian employees, has racked up more than 2 million views. Hopefully, the trio's light-hearted depiction of potentially dangerous situations distracted Pokemon chasers might encounter, will keep players in reality as they hunt down the virtual characters.

Naloxone, also known as Narcan, in Portland, Maine, June 23, 2016. Hailed as a miracle drug, the opioid antidote naloxone has unintended consequences â among them, bringing the same addicts back to life over and over again. (Tristan Spinski/The New York Times)

NYT

Kudos to CVS for joining Walgreens in offering life-saving drug

This week, CVS joined Walgreens in selling naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug, at their Texas locations without a prescription. The drug won't solve our state’s drug abuse problem, but it can reduce the damage of it. Between 1999 to 2014, the rate of overdose deaths in Texas increased 80 percent, and four of America’s 25 cities with the highest rates of opioid abuse are in Texas (Texarkana, Amarillo, Odessa, and Longview), according to the Texas Tribune. Naloxone has saved tens of thousands of lives since 1996, according to the CDC. Making the drug more available will almost certainly make Texas a safer place.

State needs to expedite its lead testing procedures

It's troubling that we may not know exactly how much exposure hundreds of disabled Texans living in state-funded homes had to toxic amounts of lead. That's because the Department of Aging and Disability Services inexplicably waited a month to test residents for lead poisoning after discovering toxic levels in their drinking water. Experts say waiting so long can skew test results and make it difficult to determine the risk of health problems, such as brain damage, kidney and nervous system failure. These vulnerable citizens deserved a quicker response.

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Education found that Texas’ spending on prisons has grown five times faster than spending on education between 1989 and 2013. In that period, Texas increased spending on prisons and jails by 850 percent, compared to an increase of 182 percent for education. “Budgets reflect our values, and the trends revealed in this analysis are a reflection of our nation’s priorities that should be revisited,” U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said in a statement. While spending on education is still significantly higher than spending on prisons overall, the difference between increases raise questions about Texas’ priorities.